I think the main hurdle to using biofuels is reducing the cost of enzymes used to break down cellulose.  ("cellulases").   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulase    Plenty of biomass is available, but it is necessary to break down cellulose.  That's hard, because nature has evolved cellulose to be very resistant to breakdown:  (Why else can 1000+ year old trees exist; their central cellulose lasted that long without breaking down.)

 This is first done by mechanical crushing, and then by breaking down some of the cellulose bonds employing inorganic acids, such as hydrochloric and sulfuric acid.  At that point, enzymes (organic catalysts) can be used to further break down the cellulose into simple sugars, which are then converted (by yeasts) to ethanol and other simple fuels.

In other words, a lot of biochemistry.

                    Jim Bell



On Friday, July 13, 2018, 8:24:53 AM PDT, Steven Schear <schear.steve@gmail.com> wrote:


>A possible alternative is to transition to biofuels, which harvest all their carbon from the atmosphere, and can be net carbon neutral.

On Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 8:10 AM John Newman <jnn@synfin.org> wrote:
On Fri, Jul 06, 2018 at 05:20:30PM +0000, jim bell wrote:
>  This article sure sounds foolish.  As I see it, the main driver in the increase in "growth"  (other than population) is productivity.  Productivity tends to be driven by gradual adoptions of automation, which has been a major factor for 50+ years, and actually far larger.  Automation isn't going away, and will only increase in effectiveness for decades 
> Energy is a factor, but society is well on its way to the widespread adoption of solar and wind energy.  Solar is useful in most locations, and wind will eventually be useable just about everywhere, 24 hours per day, with the use of low-resistance materials to conduct that energy, for example metallic carbon nanotubes.  (MCNTs).
>             Jim Bell
>

Personally I wish the "progressive left" could get over its deep fear of
nuclear energy, and we could build some modern reactors. Maybe when (if)
they ever get a fusion reactor that can substain a reaction...

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/iter-nuclear-fusion-reactor-halfway-complete/

Of course, solar and wind power is great :)  Anything to stop burning
more fucking carbon..

-
John


>
>
>
>     On Friday, July 6, 2018, 9:15:13 AM PDT, Steven Schear <schear.steve@gmail.com> wrote: 
> 
>  "If we extrapolate this trend forward, labour productivity growth would reach zero by 2028."
> https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/govt-economic-advisor-warns-british-defence-planners-that-growth-is-ending-abf806f17845
>   

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